Freetime Machos

A comedy about the most northern and third lousiest rugby team in the world.

Freetime Machos

Freetime Machos

During a rugby match Matti breaks his pinky finger. It hurts like hell but Mikko and the rest of his team mates just keep laughing at him. A real man would break his leg – or his arm, at least. But a pinky finger…

The rugby team in the Finnish town of Oulu is in for a challenge. If they play as badly as last season, the team will be relegated to the second division. British coach Roger, brought to Finland to work for the Finnish mobile giant Nokia, does his best to coach these northern rugby novices, but there is desperation in his voice. And as the season comes to an end, as friendship, stamina, and every ones sense of humour is put to the test, Matti comes to realise that a broke pinky finger is just small po-tatoes.

Freetime Machos offers an exceptionally candid insight into the fundamental thoughts of men. When fathers, brothers and boyfriends leave home and join their peers, mind, language and culture is transformed. The film follows the team through defeats, victories and love stemming from friendship – all the way into the dressing rooms and sauna parties.

Matti, Mikko and the other central characters of the film have grown up in a barren country. A country where you can put down the former president, but not Nokia. A country where a man would rather take a knife in his back than com-plain about woman trouble. A country where the bedroom is for propagation and mechanical reproduction, not pleasure.

Deep down inside, these rough-necks are sympathetic men – free time machos who cannot only hold a rugby ball, but also vacuum cleaners and feather dusters. They face humiliation calmly and mo-ments of joy equally coolly. To fall in love with them takes time, but it pays off.